What’s the difference between brand marketing and direct response?

At one extreme, you can think of brand marketing as a gift – like for a friend’s birthday.

You choose a gift based on what you know about your friend.

It’s personal: the best thing that they’d like most which you can afford.

You’d wrap it nicely too. And hand it over at an appropriate moment.

Most important of all, you don’t ask your friend to pay for the gift.

(Or mention that you expect them to return the favour come your birthday.)

It’s an emotional exchange: like “I love you”

A single-minded proposition, best conveyed with high production values, in memorable, high interest, choose-to-view media.

You can guess then how direct marketing works.

It’s far more a transaction.

For a start, you’re always going to ask for money (or at least business).

And, forget the fancy wrapper, you’re trying to get the most from the least.

So, you’re looking at cheaper media, maybe even low-interest slots and placement.

And longer time lengths. Or more copy.

With multiple, often seemingly rational, propositions – like little fish hooks – hoping one of them will catch the customer’s attention.

The trouble is, of course, that such extremes only work for extreme products.

Just as the failure to ‘ask for business’ in brand advertising mutes response, so the failure to build rapport in direct marketing stores up failure.

The answer, as ever lies in the middle way: direct response that isn’t brand poison; brand marketing that doesn’t forget to ‘square-the-circle’ of commerce.